Unsealing The Door
by Sinny of Yellowboze
Summary: Sometimes the things you find in combat are the most precious of all... PG-13 for a certain amount of profanity... Hey at least I didn't speak Scottish like I meant to!
1. Chapter One

UNSEALING THE DOOR  
  
*Author's Note Thingys*  
  
Heya! *waves* Been waaaaaaaaay too long since I worked on my fan fiction. I'm having a serious case of the writer's block on "Hounds of Hell", I know where I want it to go but damned if I can think of how to get it there.  
  
This fic is the direct result of a conversation on the PSDB between myself, and, Um, I forget who everyone else was, please don't kill me, I'm tired (I think Eden was involved somewhere, or maybe Joel). Just take it as read that I made a comment about my HUnewearl (Herb is my current character, I can't bring myself to sacrifice her level 83 power) and Mome, and how they made a good pair, and, well, yeah. Sorry.  
  
I never let Mome die! Mwahahahahahahahahaha!!!! (Herb: Bad Sinny! No more FFX! Sinny: AHHH! I'll be good!)  
  
***  
  
"Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit!" The young HUnewearl cursed repeatedly, desperately dodging the Dubchic's attacks. Normally she wouldn't have had a problem taking them out, but she couldn't see a way to reach the Dubwitch without potentially losing her client, which was never good for business.  
  
"Herb, look out!" Mome yelled, firing wildly into the melee. The scientist might have been a genius in the lab, but when it came to combat he was little more than a rookie.  
  
Herb assessed the situation, and did something she hated; she called for the retreat. Luckily the machines didn't seem too keen on following, so the pair took cover in the next room, a small square space which had once been a lift shaft for transporting spare parts and scientists.  
  
Herb was a short HUnewearl – although not as short as some of her fellow Hunters! – with short green hair and a green uniform. She had large emerald eyes which went black when she was angry, and she often was. She was hardly over endowed in the bust department, and the constant harassment from her part-time boyfriend – A RAmar known only as Dark – tended to make her short- tempered.  
  
She groaned, and cast Resta on herself for about the 100th time in the last hour. Normally she didn't have any problems in the Mines – Her M&A60Vise took care of that – but as she had to ensure the safety of her client, she had switched to a Double Saber.  
  
Mome was looking almost ashamed, although it was hard to tell through that stupid helmet. Herb had to admit, the first time they'd met she'd found him somewhat appealing – presumably her experience with Brawn encouraging her to try Brains for once – but he never seemed to shut up! And he hit her more than he hit the bloody machines!  
  
"I'm, I mean, uh," Mome said, seeming to have run out of words for once. Herb instantly focused on him – not even being brought to the very edge of death had made him shut up! "I'm sorry."  
  
"What the hell for?" Herb asked, peering through the door into the next room. Surely the Dubchics would go back into sleep mode eventually...  
  
"I keep getting you hurt," he said, and suddenly flipped back into rant mode. "I knew this was a stupid idea right from the beginning, I should have listened to my co-workers, I'm not meant for this and I might get you killed! Herb, we should go back."  
  
Herb stared for several moments. "No, we bloody well shouldn't be going back." Mome looked startled, or at least she thought he did. "I've never given up on a Quest before, and I'm not giving up now!" Her eyes sparkled like true emeralds as she spoke. "Let's go back to the ship, I need to get something."  
  
***  
  
"This was your something?" Mome demanded, staring at the small and innocuous mechguns lying in Herb's hands. "I though you were looking for a huge sword or something, I mean you're a Hunter, it's your job to slice and dice, not snipe from afar!"  
  
"Hey, I'm in charge here!" Herb countered, spinning each gun on a forefinger before striking a pose. "Trust me on this one, okay! Now, where'd I put that Trigrinder?"  
  
"You haven't even fully customized it yet? I knew it, we're both going to die down there! Agh! I have so much to live for!" Mome was starting to remind Herb of a video she'd seen of a headless chicken when she was being speed-educated.  
  
"Mome, pay attention to me!" she yelled. She grabbed the collar of his (probably stolen) Ranger's uniform and planted a solid kiss on his mouth. "When we finish the quest I'll give you a proper kiss, okay?"  
  
Mome's blushing could have powered the Pioneer Two for a month.  
  
***  
  
"Wait. You're telling me that stupid frigging bug in the pipe was created by a HUMAN SCIENTIST?!?!?!" Herb's blood pressure was rising ominously, and Mome gulped as he saw the way her hands tightened on the guns. "I went through all that shit because some idiot thought he could design a centipede with go-faster stripes?"  
  
She pivoted on the spot, and started firing round after round into the already-broken machine, her instinct for preserving what little facts which had survived managing to dominate her blind rage.  
  
"Stupid, mindless, careless, foolish, evil, freaking, bastard!" she screamed, tears running down her face. Eventually the M&A60Vise activated the fail-safe button, assuming that she would overheat the Photon generators. Much longer, and she might have done just that.  
  
She sank down to the floor, her legs no longer capable of holding her upright. It seemed like she was falling apart inside, or maybe she'd finally cracked. Mome had read somewhere that most Hunters, if they didn't perish, retired from stress or completely flipped out.  
  
"Herb, I don't know what to say, but I want you to know that I'm sorry and I wish I knew how to make it better," Mome said without drawing breath, afraid that she might attack him or maybe just give up right there and then. Once a Newman gave up on life, they would literally pass away on the spot.  
  
"I'm scared." The voice was so different, so much more vulnerable and childlike that Mome barely recognized it. "I lost so many friends to that thing, and to find out that some careless human did that........."  
  
"I'll fix it!" Mome said, suddenly feeling a burst of anger at the carelessness of his fellow scientists on the Pioneer One. They'd been responsible for so many deaths, so much torment. "I'll find a way to make it all better, I swear I will! No matter how long it takes, I'll fix the mistakes Doctor Osto made!"  
  
"If that's a promise," Herb said, hauling herself to her feet, "Then we both know what we do now, don't we?"  
  
***  
  
"That thing's fucking huge!" Herb whispered. "I've never seen one before, wait while I access the Hunter Database."  
  
Mome glanced nervously at the door separating the pair from the huge machine in the next room. All of a sudden it seemed terribly flimsy.  
  
"Are you sure this door can stand up to those missiles?" he asked, rubbing irritably at the burn on his arm. A Canadine had managed to zap him with the mechanical equivalent of Zonde, and Herb simply hadn't had the TP to heal it and still be able to return them to the Pioneer Two later. It itched like hell.  
  
"Oh my," she said. "I can only find one entry, which in itself is a bit odd." She caught Mome's questioning glance. "Most hunters file a report on different monsters, to give advice or general information about fighting them."  
  
"And?"  
  
"It's called a Garanz." Herb's eyes were black again. "The only says one thing; 'Run for your damned lives.' Not exactly encouraging."  
  
"I made a promise," Mome said. He was utterly terrified, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. "Let's kill it."  
  
"Damn I'm starting to like you!" Herb said, swapping her M&A60Vise for her Double Saber once more. "I'll take the hits, you do the damage."  
  
***  
  
Oooh, naughty me. Cliffhanger! LOL. 


	2. Chapter Two

And here's the ending for you. I hate Garanz, they suck.  
  
The best description of a Garanz I've ever heard is "The U.S. Army compressed into a 6 foot cube."  
  
***  
  
"Herb! Herb, get up!" Herb wanted to voice to go away. Her head hurt already, and someone was yelling at her. She wanted to sleep!  
  
"If you don't get up I'll sell your Double Saber to a Level 1 HUcast." That got her attention! She sat upright in a hurry, eyes shooting open. Half a second later her head was between her legs as she retched.  
  
"Mome, you are a total bastard," she said once the dry heaves went away. "You know I have issues with HUcasts!"  
  
"It worked, didn't it?" he said, and his eyes crinkled slightly as he smiled. He'd pulled the helmet off, maybe so he could shout louder. Who knew? As it was, his hair didn't look half as goofy when it was plastered down. "I thought you'd died for a minute there. You killed that Garanz thing just as it shot off a huge volley of missiles, I've never seen anyone take so much punishment before!"  
  
"Well whaddaya know?" she gasped, feeling the effect of several Garanz- missiles to the solar plexus. "Did it drop anything useful?"  
  
"Depends. What's a Trifluid?"  
  
"God you're an idiot sometimes. Gimmie that!"  
  
***  
  
"This is it," Herb said, staring at the teleport. God, it looked so innocuous! If there was any kind of cosmic justice, it would have been sealed in concrete, wrapped in barbed wire, and left in the most inaccessible place possible with a sign saying "Go the fuck away!"  
  
Unfortunately there isn't any such thing as cosmic justice, so it just sat there looking harmless. Bastard!  
  
"I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid," Mome chanted, eyes closed. He hadn't bothered to put the helmet back on, and Herb honestly though it to be a good thing.  
  
"It begins here," Herb said. It was what Noel Chandler had said, before going to fight her nemesis.  
  
"Shouldn't that be it ends here?" Mome asked, not understanding.  
  
"No."  
  
***  
  
A month later.  
  
"And though, I know, the world of Real Emotion has surrounded me, I won't give in to it!" Herb sang, rummaging through her wardrobe. How was it possible to have so many variations of the HUnewearl armor but practically no casual clothes at all?  
  
"Dammit girl, stop singing that song!" Dark growled, brushing his black hair from his eyes. "You're really starting to annoy me!"  
  
"And?" she asked. "While we're on the subject, get out."  
  
"What?" Dark was practically laughing. "Are you trying to dump me?"  
  
"Yes, I believe that I am," she said, finally finding a nice black shirt and gray trousers which wouldn't look too out of place in a nice restaurant.  
  
"Yeah right," Dark said, his eyes narrowing. "You'll be back at my door within a week, begging me to come back to you."  
  
"No, I won't," Herb said, activating the Blade Dance she'd had hidden in the wardrobe. "And if you don't get out of here right now, I'll destroy you."  
  
Dark choked for a few moments, than ran – wisely deciding that taking on an armed HUnewearl with a grudge was not a smart idea.  
  
A few minutes later Mome appeared at her door. "Is everything alright?" he asked. "It's just that I saw a terrified RAmar running for his life."  
  
Herb grinned. "Everything's bloody great!"  
  
"You won't be able to talk like that in the restaurant, you know."  
  
***  
  
So what do you all think? Was it cute, was it funny? Should I just give up while I'm ahead?  
  
I never thought I'd be writing this story. 


End file.
